Humorous, catchy and even a ‘feast for the eyes’, that’s how Mankind pharma is advertising traditionally ‘taboo’ products in the otherwise dull pharma space. So, with an Rs 60-crore ad budget, Mankind is ensuring its newly-launched OTC products?strawberry and chocolate flavoured condoms ‘Manforce’, pregnancy test kits ‘Prega News’ and sanitary napkins ?Don’t Worry??stand out in a crowded market.
Incidentally, it is also the first pharmaceutical company to advertise pregnancy test kits on television. The TV commercial, which was first aired in May this year, features actresses from popular TV soap Balika Vadhu, targeting urban and semi-urban areas. In another ad for condoms, a gorgeous female model is whipping chocolate and doing the talking too. It?s advertising sans barriers, and as ad guru Prahlad Kakkar puts it, ?condoms are being portrayed not for protection, but for pleasure?. But it?s pregnancy test kit ad that impresses him the most. He feels it also has the social purpose intact, as it educates women about the product and also empowers them. ?Other companies should and will follow suit,? he says.
Mankind?s founder and CMD RC Juneja is enthusiastic about his new ads, as he feels it’s helping the company build a brand image in the Rs 42,000-crore pharma market dominated by biggies such as Cipla, Piramal, Ranbaxy and others. ?Advertising our over-the-counter products in an offbeat way has helped the company as a whole, and now consumers connect with Mankind as a pharma brand. So in a way it’s helping our prescription drugs too (advertising prescription drugs is not permitted). The campaign was not just to increase sales, but to connect with the masses, and in the case of pregnancy test kits, to build the brand category,? says Juneja.
Take its ad for sanitary napkins. A couple of girls are enjoying a boat ride in a lake, when a napkin accidentally slips from a girl?s bag into the lake. Cut to the scene where the baffled girls are left in the boat on parched land as the lake dries up. Humour is used here for a different angle. ?That?s a difficult product category, as chemist shops are cluttered with sanitary napkins of various brands. We wanted to be noticed and so took a line different from the usual?you can jog, you can party even during your periods. The next three-four ads that we will launch for this product will also be humorous,? says Narinder Kessar, director, Prachar Communication, the ad agency and media planners for Mankind. And that the ads are gaining traction among consumers or at least registering in their minds can be gauged from the fact that many online forums are abuzz with description and discussions pertaining to them.
Sample this: A woman writes on her Facebook profile that next time there is a flood in any part of the country, ‘Don’t Worry’ sanitary napkins should be used to help the situation.
Humour attracts humour. And business too? ?All the ads and most products are very new. It takes at least 45 days for an ad to start reaping results. However, sales have definitely jumped, if not doubled,? says Dr Sanjay Koul, GM-product, Mankind. The company registered a turnover of Rs 1,250 crore last fiscal, of which Rs 80 crore was contributed by OTC products. While it is looking at a growth of 30-35% in the total turnover, for OTC products it is targeting a 100% growth.
While emergency contraceptive pills, such as iPill and Mankind’s ‘Unwanted 72’ caught the attention of social activists and moral police brigade and were banned (looking at the misuse), pregnancy test kits have not yet evoked any negative reaction. Prahlad Kakkar sums up, ?As long as the advertised product is harmless and the ad does not offend an average consumer, it’s alright.
It doesn’t matter if an ad is too ‘bold’ for the so-called moral police.?